In Moments of Courage
by CarlieD
Summary: Sequel to For The Moments I Feel Forgotten. Teddy Lupin had always lived in the shadow of his godfather’s legacy. Always feeling outdone by the heroics and the perfection of Harry Potter, he must learn to become heroic himself when the unthinkable happens
1. Prologue: 2002

**In Moments of Courage**

_Sequel to For The Moments I Feel Forgotten. Teddy Lupin had always lived in the shadow of his godfather's legacy. Always feeling outdone by the heroics and the perfection of Harry Potter, he must learn to become heroic himself when the unthinkable happens…_

DISCLAIMER: I don't own any of Harry Potter.

* * *

**Prologue: July 31, 2002**

"Hello?" came an unfamiliar man's voice from the front hallway. "Anybody still here?"

4-year-old Teddy Lupin let out a distressed cry when his father stopped reading. "Daddy!" he exclaimed, fighting to keep the book open as Remus was in the process of closing it. "It's not done!" He growled angrily when he lost the battle. "It's not _done_!" he shrieked again.

"Teddy, you know this story by heart," Remus told him gently. "Daddy'll be back in a few minutes to finish it, all right? I just have to talk to Harry before he leaves for another four years without warning."

"No, finish it _now_…" Teddy wailed, scrambling to regain the last page read when Remus got up. "Daddy! _Daddy_!"

***

He could hear everybody talking downstairs in the kitchen, and more people kept coming in. So far, he'd seen Ron and Hermione and Ginny and Fred and George and Mr and Mrs Weasley. Even Kingsley and Mad-Eye had come.

He hadn't heard Sirius laugh like that in his whole life. It almost sounded like they having a party or something. What was going on?, Teddy wondered curiously as he edged his way into the kitchen. He bumped into somebody's legs, and he stopped. It was past his bedtime. He wasn't supposed to be up.

"Teddy, sweetheart, back to bed," Grandmum whispered to him. "You know better." She lifted him up and carried Teddy back upstairs to his bedroom. "Go to sleep, baby."

"Noo…" Teddy protested as she tucked him in securely, moved his book aside and turned off the lights. "Grandmum, no…" He fought his way out of the covers. "I don't want to!"

"Stay in bed, Teddy, I mean it," Grandmum warned as she tucked the covers back around him again. Teddy watched her close the door, tears in his eyes. Everybody always made him go back to bed.

"What was going on with him, Mum?" he heard Mummy ask Grandmum as he crept back out and sat down on the steps to watch from there.

"Oh, he was just having another meltdown, Nymphadora, nothing to worry about," Grandmum said.

***

22-year-old Harry Potter finally managed to extricate himself at about 11 PM, when people were starting to disperse and Ginny had managed to reduce her hyperventilation to a regular breathing rate. Slipping out of the kitchen, citing exhaustion, he started to head upstairs, thinking of going to his old bedroom to sleep for a little while, when he noticed the small, forlorn figure sitting on the stairs.

"Oh, hello," he greeted, sitting down next to him. "Have you been spying on me all this time?"

"Who are you?" Teddy asked sullenly, his small fists still tight around the two covers of his book, holding it open.

Harry laughed slightly. "Yeah, I suppose you don't remember me. You were just a little baby last time I was here. I'm Harry." He looked down at the book in Teddy's lap. "Were you just sitting here reading?"

"No," Teddy answered. "I was waiting for Daddy to finish it."

Harry watched him for a while, before he said, "You know what? I was sort of thinking of hiding from everybody for a while. Do you want me to finish it for you? It looks like a good story."

***

"Oh, _Merlin_," Remus groaned at about midnight as the Grimmauld Place adults were preparing to turn in for the night. "I completely forgot to go back and finish reading Teddy his story."

Sirius laughed shortly. "Nice one, Moony. Pretty sure he's fallen asleep on it."

"I put him back to bed at 9," Andromeda said as she got up. "I'm sure he's asleep by now, Remus, he won't remember it in the morning."

Tonks barely managed to bite back a teasing comment about scatter-brained professors and said instead, "I'll go tuck him back in. I'm sure the blankets are across the room by now. Be up in a minute."

She opened the door to Teddy's room to see him fast asleep, curled up against Harry's side as the young man dozed lightly. Rolling her eyes, she gently disentangled Teddy and nudged Harry's leg. "Hey, Harry, you want a real bed? One meant to hold a full-grown man?"

"Hmm?" Harry yawned, stretching slightly. "Oh, did I fall asleep?"

"Yeah, looks like," Tonks replied with a laugh, as he got up from the bed. She pulled back Teddy's blankets and laid him back down. "Thanks, by the way."

"For what?" Harry asked, still rubbing sleep out of his eyes.

"For finishing the story, it's his favourite. Remus had a professor moment," she said, kissing her son's forehead lightly before she stood up again.

"Oh, s'no problem," Harry said.

***

Life went back to normal for Teddy when Harry left the next day. Soon, he'd barely even remember that his godfather had ever been at Grimmauld Place.

***

Teddy knew something was terribly wrong when he woke up on Christmas morning to the sound of somebody screaming in the sitting room. Yawning as he tumbled out of bed, Teddy opened his door.

It was Ginny screaming. What was going on?

"Teddy, go back to bed," came Sirius' voice behind him. "Go on."

"What if I don't _want_ to go back to bed?" Teddy threw back at him defiantly. "I'm _tired_ of going back to bed!"

"You have more mouth than a Lupin has a right to have," Sirius said with a slight laugh, though Teddy could see he was worried in his eyes. "All right, then. Lead the way."

"What's going on?" Mummy asked with a yawn as she and Daddy came out from their bedroom. "Teddy, sweetie, it's too early. Go back to bed."

"I don't _want_ to go back to bed, I _always_ have to go back to bed!" Teddy protested.

Grandmum appeared at the foot of the stairs just then. "Teddy, go back to bed. Now."

"I don't – " Teddy started to argue again, when Hermione came up the stairs to look at Sirius.

"It's Harry, isn't it?" Sirius asked quietly. "Something's happened."

Hermione nodded. "He's… he's dead, Sirius. He was killed in a battle with the Death-Eaters this morning."

There was a scary sort of silence after Hermione said that. Daddy had grabbed Sirius' arm, saying, "Sit. Sit, Sirius." Sirius had gone whiter than the snow outside, and he almost melted onto the steps, like he couldn't stand on his feet anymore.

"Teddy, come on," Mummy whispered to him, lifting him up into her arms. "Let's put you back to bed. It's too early for little boys to be up."

"I don't want to go back to bed!" Teddy repeated fiercely.

But they made him anyway.


	2. Meeting Lyric

A/N: LOL, oh, Erroneously… did you really think I was that clever? I hadn't even thought about it until you pointed it out. And Leah… don't worry, I have plans for this story, dark and mysterious plans…

**_Chapter 1: Meeting Lyric_**

December 25, 2015

Sometimes Teddy wondered why he even bothered.

It was Christmas morning: he had been informed by those who had actually lived outside the boundaries of a closely guarded safe house/headquarters that it was supposed full of cheer and goodwill and maybe the occasional present.

Not in Grimmauld Place. Never in Grimmauld Place. Ever since that Christmas 13 years ago, cheer and goodwill had picked up, moved out and gone on with their lives.

Most days it wasn't so bad. It had been so long now, usually people didn't mention him anymore. But he always managed to make an appearance on Christmas, and on his birthday. This made for a rather gloomy holiday season, as Sirius usually managed to spirit away some kind of strong alcoholic beverage for a private consumption later, and as Ginny usually somehow managed to stumble her way through the dinner, her eyes bloodshot from tears, and as Ron and Hermione usually managed to make small talk with the others, their faces tight with emotional pain.

They were always the worst: they had been the closest to him. Mrs Weasley usually needed to break out the handkerchief at some point in the dinner, but she could generally get herself through.

This Christmas hadn't been any different. In fact, right this very instant, his father was busy trying to confiscate the Firewhisky from Sirius before he drank himself into oblivion, and the Weasleys had already called it quits for the night, Ginny in emotional tatters.

Teddy had sunk down into an armchair in the sitting room, twirling his wand absently in his fingers. What was the point in even trying anymore? Maybe he'd just get back to work on his Defence spells. They'd start up his schoolwork again tomorrow, and maybe for once somebody would be impressed with him getting it right.

Grandmum came in just as he was preparing to cast the spell. "Back to practising, Teddy?" she asked softly, sitting down in one of the other armchairs.

"Might as well," he muttered. "Not like anybody's going to notice, anyway."

"Teddy, I know it isn't easy for you," Grandmum said quietly, watching him. "It's not easy being the younger one, and you've got a formidable shadow to live under. But you can't blame everybody else for this. Harry was very special to a lot of people, and holidays are always the hardest time to get through when you've lost somebody."

"I'm just sick of hearing about him," Teddy muttered. "I mean, if he was so great, he wouldn't be dead."

Grandmum said sharply, "Don't you dare say that to anybody else. Every person in this world is mortal, Teddy, and Harry died trying to keep you all safe."

"I'm tired of him, that's all. The guy's dead. I'm ready for new topics of conversations now."

***

Sirius and his father were up late that night – just like they always were on Christmas. He could probably set his clock by the Christmas routine.

As Teddy crept silently down the stairs, being careful to step over the one that creaked, he listened to their conversation.

"_Sirius, you've got to snap yourself out of this..."_

"_Shut up, Remus. You've still got your kid. Mine got slaughtered."_

"_Merlin, Sirius..."_

As usual. It was always about Harry.

Teddy opened the front door carefully, slipping outside into the fresh winter air and shutting the door again with hardly a sound. And with that, he took off down the street.

How long would it take before somebody noticed he was gone?

***

April 3, 2016

Teddy cursed the rain again as he ducked into the shelter of a nearby cave. Did it have to rain so damn _hard_?

He hated to admit it, but he didn't have a clue what he was doing. All he had known when he'd left home four months ago was that he wanted to be anywhere but in number 12, Grimmauld Place. If he managed to strike a blow for the good guys while doing it, all the better.

But he needed a long-term plan.

Sitting down heavily on a nearby ledge, Teddy ran a hand through his soaked hair, flinching momentarily as he scraped against a healing cut on his forehead. "All right, Lupin, think," he muttered. "Come on, you've got to be at least half as good as Harry, if you've made it this far alive." Teddy sighed. "Even if he _had_ accomplished three times more than you by this point. Merlin, why do I even bother trying…?"

"Damn, that's a lot of rain!" came a girl's voice as a figure stumbled into the cave. She looked up and in a flash, both she and Teddy had jumped to their feet, wands pointed at the other.

"Who are you?" Teddy asked sharply, just as a flash of lightning illuminated the girl's face.

She was thin, with milk-white skin and lips that seemed too… red. Her jet-black hair tumbled limply around her face, and scarlet eyes watched him warily from inside the sunken eye sockets. Her features seemed chiselled, as though from ice, and she looked almost as though she were a life-size porcelain sculpture.

"Or should I ask, _what_ are you?" he corrected himself suspiciously. There was something not quite... _right_, about her.

"I could ask the same of you," she replied icily. "What do you call yourself?"

"Uh... why?" he asked warily.

"In certain societies, we call that 'being polite'," she said, her gaze still piercing his. "In other societies, we call that 'determining a threat'." For a moment, they were both silent, before she said, "I'm Lyric. Just Lyric, I don't have a last name. I'm a vampire. That answer your questions?" She dropped her wand back into her pocket.

"Somewhat," he answered, slowly lowering his wand. "On a superficial level."

"In certain societies, propriety would require a like response," she said pointedly.

Teddy thought fast. If he said his name, she'd know he was related to the former Order and Merlin only knew what would happen. "Jacob," he answered shortly. "You only need to know Jacob. I'm a werewolf."

"I knew there was something not quite right about you," Lyric said dismissively. "So, you with _them_ or against _them_?"

"And them, you mean..."

"The destroyers of the old ways."

Teddy thought that one through. This was obviously a trick question, to see whose side he was on. Question was, what side was _she_ on?

And as he opened his mouth to answer, he knew that once he spoke, there would be no going back.


	3. The Mysterious Mission

**Chapter 2: The Mysterious Mission**

"So, Jacob, where are you from?" Lyric asked as the two young adults made their way through a slick, muddy ditch. "I'm from a bit of everywhere myself. My family's not big on sedentary living, particularly given their nighttime activities."

Teddy focused on following one step behind her without falling flat on his face, letting the silence drift between them before he answered shortly, "London."

"Oh, a city boy," Lyric said with a smile. "It'll be interesting to see how long you last out here."

"Listen, how _far_ is this place, anyway?" Teddy finally exclaimed.

"Far enough in that nobody dares come looking, far enough out that the creatures inside don't pose a threat," Lyric replied. "So who got you into 'big bad wolf' side of life? I have to say, I can't blame a soul but the ubiquitous mother. It's always the mother in my family – Dad bites Mum, Mum has baby, baby gets bitten at one year old. Cycle continues."

Teddy sighed, a frown crossing his face.

"Was it Greyback?" Lyric asked, twisting around to look at him. "I hear Greyback's real vicious. But you have hardly any scars."

"I hide them," Teddy replied evasively. "Makes it easier to live, easier to blend in." _Easier to hide…_

***

_It had been close to a month since Teddy had left Grimmauld Place. He knew that he looked too much like his parents to stay in his natural form. So he'd made himself a little taller, a little brawnier, made his hair a deeper shade of brown, turned his eyes brown. Just for kicks, he'd put blonde and red highlights into his hair, though he knew that'd make him stand out. People dyed their hair all the time – he'd just change it every so often, make it 'fade out' and then 're-dye' it._

_He knew he'd have to hide the scars. Even though Hermione had always brought some Wolfsbane whenever she could smuggle it in – the Ministry, now overrun with Death-Eaters, had banned it years ago – the potion so rarely worked completely on him that it was almost pointless to drink it._

_Right now, he'd been going from suburb to suburb around London, trying to avoid detection. Despite what everybody seemed to think, he had an appreciation for the dangers that lay just outside his front door._

_While in Diagon Alley the other day, he'd nearly stumbled across Bill and Fleur and their family, trying to talk somebody he didn't quite recognize out of doing something._

"_Would you stop tempting fate? Go back," Bill muttered fiercely, as his eldest daughter was looking around worriedly. Diagon Alley was all but deserted, and those that remained evidently weren't trustworthy. From what he understood of people's stories, most of the decent wizardry, the remnants of the Order and the DA, had been run out of civilization by about the fifth anniversary of Harry's death. "We're all searching. We'll find him."_

"_Excuse me, are _you_ an Auror?" the woman hissed at him angrily, and Teddy realized that it was his mother Bill was talking to, disguising herself the way he had been. "I keep losing track of him, he keeps changing his mind on where he's going…"_

"_And what good are you doing anybody to get yourself caught and killed?" Bill hissed back. "Merlin, Tonks, just go back home."_

***

"Not too much farther now," Lyric reported, looking behind her briefly.

"Good, because I'm actually wetter than I was before, if that's even possible," Teddy replied.

Lyric laughed. "Do you just not like being wet? Is it a dog thing?"

"Do _you_ enjoy being wet?" Teddy returned pointedly. "Where are we going, anyway?"

"We're going to headquarters," Lyric replied.

"H-h-headquarters?" Teddy asked, heart suddenly pounding. 'Headquarters' meant organization. The only true organization there was these days was the Death-Eaters. Oh, Merlin, he'd answered wrong.

"Yeah," Lyric said.

***

It was like a convention of the country's dark creatures: men whose bodies were so scarred and postures so feral they couldn't be anything but werewolves; pale, dark-haired vampires; ugly hags…

Lyric had directly approached the two men holding counsel at the far end of the room, dragging Teddy with her. "And what do you bring with you, Lyric?" the pale one asked.

"I bring another to join, Father," she answered simply. "He escaped the prisons of the humans in London."

"And who do you propose takes responsibility for your little pet wolf?" her father asked harshly. "He cannot remain here with us. Fenrir?"

Teddy's heart froze as he turned to the mangled man next to Lyric's father. As if he didn't know who he was standing in front of. As if he hadn't heard the name uttered in low, dark tones his entire life. The monster who had nearly killed his father all those decades ago.

Fenrir Greyback.

"I have no room in my pack," Fenrir said carelessly. "He's too young. Too small. The older ones would tear him apart."

"I can fend for myself," Teddy spoke up. "I have no need for your pack."

"Well, Father, I was thinking that perhaps Jacob could join me," Lyric offered.

The two men looked at each other. "Yes, that is a possibility…" her father murmured.

"Jacob, you said?" Fenrir asked, looking at Teddy again. "Well, Jacob, what do you know of a former Order member known as Lupin?"

Teddy managed to keep his composure. "A wolf, wasn't he? I'd heard that he disappeared decades ago, when the Potter boy was killed."

"A magnificent feat it was," Fenrir agreed. "I was there, you know, when the Malfoy boy killed him. A day of celebration for all of us who serve the Dark Lord. And those cowards of the Order scattered… Yes, Lupin was a wolf. A spy for them, I discovered much too late. If he isn't already dead, his days are numbered."

"Very well, Lyric, you may have your pet for your purposes," the head vampire said nonchalantly. "You will be held responsible if something were to go wrong. Do not disappoint me, daughter."

"I won't, Father," Lyric assured him with a smile. With that, she seized Teddy's arm and pulled him off again.

***

She took him far from the dark mansion, even deeper into the forests. Finally, she stopped, her blood-red eyes glistening as she turned to look at him. "Do you trust me?" she asked finally.

"No," Teddy was quick to answer.

She laughed. "I figured as much. Be wary, Jacob, that's fine. Eventually you'll come to see that our way is best." And with that, she continued, "But you're going to have to trust me on this. They will be so much less suspicious if our scents are mixed."

"If –" Teddy's question got cut off by her lips pressing against his.

"My father thinks I want you as a distraction from my task," she said. "Fenrir just wants a wolf in on it. Just… don't fight me, please." Lyric returned to the kiss, winding her fingers through his hair.

"What?" Teddy managed to gasp.

"Are all wolves this dense, or is it just you?" she asked with a laugh. "I have an assignment. The best of the assignments, actually. Real adrenaline rush, really. Fenrir's been salivating for months over the chance to get a wolf in on it. But everybody's working on the assumption that we're going to be lovers, and if they sense otherwise, you're as good as dead. So… don't fight me."

"What the hell?" Teddy repeated, carefully extricating himself from her grasp and putting some distance between his skin and her dangerous teeth.

"Merlin, Jacob, I'm not going to _bite _you!" she exclaimed peevishly. "Wolves taste disgusting. Like their blood can never make up its mind on what it is." When Teddy looked at her sharply, she rolled her eyes impatiently. "Listen, pal, these days, you take what you can get. I didn't feel like hunting for animals, no human has set foot anywhere within a fifty-kilometre radius of this forest in decades, and Fenrir kills pack members all the time. There was a good half-dozen of them just lying there, rotting. _They_ didn't need their blood anymore."

"I'm sorry, I was taught to be a gentleman," Teddy snapped, stepping away from her as she advanced again.

"No wonder you were in the humans' prison," Lyric laughed, grabbing his hand and pulling him deeper into the trees. "Chivalry is a luxury nobody can afford anymore."

"Now where are we going?" Teddy asked in exasperation. He ducked to avoid a low-hanging branch, noting with concern that they were heading deeper into the forest – the same forest that she had told him housed terrible creatures. "Lyric?"

"Jacob," she returned with a smile. "Welcome to your new life."

And with that, she drew her hand down the trunk of a nearby gnarled tree, adding with a wink, "And do remember your role, little wolf."

Sighing, Teddy reluctantly wrapped an arm around her waist. "Whatever." He watched as the air around them shimmered, revealing an old house – well, more like a shack. It was shakily constructed, and the front steps were beginning to cave in. "Where are we now?"

"You'll find out soon enough, Jacob," Lyric said with a laugh. "Come on. And let me do all the talking until he asks you a direct question. Okay?"


	4. The Underground Rebels

**Chapter 3: The Underground Rebels**

"He… who?" Teddy asked as Lyric pushed open the front door.

"Hello!" Lyric called out, closing it again behind her. "Is anybody in?"

"Lyric, is that you?" came a man's voice as he appeared in a doorway. "We weren't expecting you back until much later this month. What's –" He stopped when he saw Teddy standing next to Lyric.

The man looked oddly familiar to Teddy, and as he studied his face, it didn't strike him where he would know this man from. He looked about mid-thirties, the Weasleys' age, darker skin – maybe African descent, wild black hair with a streak of white and suspicious brown eyes. He was thin, not particularly well-kept, but who was these days?

"Lyric, what have you done?" he asked sharply.

"Is Mark in?" she continued blithely. "I've brought a new member."

"Lyric, you _know_ the rules!" the man burst out. "You can't just bring… you can't… he can't…"

"Oh, seriously, Dean, relax," she said with a roll of her blood-red eyes. "Do you seriously think I'd have brought him here if I wasn't _totally_ sure where his loyalties lie? Now where's Mark?"

Dean? As in Dean Thomas, the Muggleborn classmate of Ron and Hermione? The one who'd disappeared off the face of the Earth after _his_ death, like so many others of their generation? Like most of the Order?

Teddy thought hard, thought back to much earlier days, and much more difficult times.

_

* * *

_

He couldn't understand why everybody was so sad and angry. What had happened? Why wouldn't anybody play with him now?

_The Weasleys were here. And Hermione, and Moody and Kingsley and the others. There were so many of them here, and they had never said 'no' before, or told him to go play somewhere else. How could one of them not come play?_

"_People are spreading the news," George was saying quietly, one arm around Ginny as she cried into his shoulder._

"_Draco Malfoy all but screamed it from the rooftops," Ron growled, with Hermione crying with her head in his lap._

"_More and more people are going underground, or maybe they're just being killed," Kingsley said in his deep voice. "We're not sure. The first ones to go have been –"_

_Hermione gasped between sobs, "So far Dean has disappeared, Lavender, the Patil twins. Seamus won't so much as walk the same path as any of us."_

"_Neville's taken Luna away," Ginny said, looking up from George's shoulder. "We're not sure when they left or where…"_

* * *

"Was somebody asking for me?" came another man's voice as he emerged from another door. This was was roughly the same age as Dean, but with light skin, dark brown hair – not so dissimilar to the colour Teddy had at the moment, but with a streak of white in it – and hazel eyes. The individual features of the newcomer's face were masked, hidden by the severe disfigurement. Scars and burns littered his face and Teddy saw the same marks on the forearms. He walked with a slight limp as he joined the group.

"Mark, this is Jacob," Lyric said with a smile. "I've recruited him. He _can_ be trusted," she added as Mark turned to Teddy with a suspicious look in his eye. "You can go ahead and test him if you'd like. Not exactly a practice to be encouraged, though, given his being status."

"Tell me about yourself. Why are you looking to join us?" Mark asked Teddy shortly.

Teddy had to think fast. Given that these people all looked pretty ragged, and they were this far into the forest, he had to assume that these were some scattered remnants of the resisters. Finally, he said in as calm a voice as he could manage under the pressure, "My name is Jacob Wolfe. No jokes, please," he added when Lyric snickered. "I'm a werewolf. Up until quite recently, I was a prisoner of Voldemort in London. My family… my family is still there." He paused. "They didn't want to join Greyback."

Well, he wasn't _really_ lying, was he? He really was a werewolf, and they _were_ practically prisoners in Grimmauld Place, and it _was_ Voldemort that kept them in there, and Greyback's pack _was_ pretty much the only other living option for a werewolf…

Dean and Mark exchanged a glance. "How old are you?" Dean asked finally.

"Seventeen," Teddy replied.

"How long has your family been imprisoned?"

Teddy paused for a moment. "As long as I can remember," he said finally. "I was quite small at the time, but I don't think it was all that long after Harry Potter was killed."

Mark's eyes were still watching Teddy with masked interest. Then, without warning, his wand flashed out and Teddy was struck with the most intense pain he'd ever felt in his life – and that included transformation.

What the hell was this madman Cruciating him for? Despite the panic running his mind – did this guy know he was lying? Did he suspect that the boy he saw before him wasn't real? – Teddy focused his fraying nerves and energies on maintaining his appearance.

'No,' he told himself firmly as he felt his mask slipping. 'You are _Jacob_ now. This is who Jacob is. There's nothing to lose.'

Finally, _finally_, the pain ceased and Teddy stayed collapsed on the floor for a moment, putting himself back together. He didn't think anything had gone. Didn't feel like anything was missing. He was pretty sure he couldn't move his right leg, though. Or was it moving of its own accord? Was it even still there? Merlin, that had been painful…

"Sorry about that, Jack," Mark said cheerfully, holding out a hand. "Had to make sure you were who you said you were. Never can be too careful these days, can you? Bore up like a man, though. Suppose you're used to pain like that, being a wolf?"

"That was worse," Teddy groaned, accepting the hand Mark held out. He looked down at his feet. Yeah, they were still there – right pant leg was ripped to shreds, though, shoe pretty roughed up…

"Yeah, you went wolfish for a minute there," Lyric told him frankly. "Mark's going to make up for that, isn't he?"

"Hell, no," Mark replied easily. "Jack's going to find his own replacements. You don't mind if I call you Jack, yeah?"

"Sure, whatever," Teddy replied, still a little stunned. "What's going on?"

Mark and Dean both laughed slightly. "He's a little punch-drunk, isn't he?" Dean asked Mark in amusement.

"Sensory overload, probably," Mark replied wisely. "Poor thing looks like Boris the Bewildered, doesn't he?"

"Reminds me of Carter right after we tested him."

"You'd think an ex-Death Eater would've been used to the Cruciatus."

Lyric smiled and laughed, looping her arm through Teddy's as the two men continued to discuss the aftereffects of the Cruciatus. "Come back to Earth, Jacob."

Teddy shook his head to try and bring the world back into focus. "Okay. I'm good now."

"So, Jack-the-Wolf, come in and we'll introduce you around. How long are you here for, Lyric?" Mark asked, turning to look at them again.

"Not sure," Lyric replied. "Think we'll hang around for a while, anyway."

They followed the two men through the doorway into the kitchen. Inside, there were three women gathered around the table, along with four young children.

"Oh, hello, Lyric," one woman greeted, her lank brown hair tumbling down her back as she looked up. She had blue eyes and a kind smile when she took in the sight of Teddy. "We weren't expecting you back for some time. And who's this?"

"Meghan, this is Jack," Mark said. "He's going to be joining Lyric in her life's mission. Jack, this is Meghan, Dean's wife."

"And a beauty, isn't she?" Dean asked affectionately, laying a kiss on her cheek. There were two disgusted cries from the lone little boy and one of the older girls, and Dean laughed before swooping in to kiss both of them as well. "These are mine, too, I guess."

"Rebecca and Braden," Meghan explained, pointing to each of them. "This is Emily," she continued, gesturing to the young woman beside her. This one didn't seem too much older than Teddy, and substantially younger than the other adults – probably in her mid-twenties. "And the little one down there is Tania. She's Emily's. We found Aubrey wandering the forests a few months ago – and I'm sure you know how dangerous these woods can get for a little girl. She says her family was killed."

"And you've picked up a new person since the last time I was here," Lyric commented, looking over at the redheaded woman in her mid-thirties. The woman had been silent throughout the entire conversation, her eyes rimmed with red.

"Ah, yes, Ginny," Mark said with a grin. "Ginny's a rarity, indeed. She stumbled across us a few weeks ago. Apparently on the hunt for somebody and on the run from somebody entirely different. Do you want to fill Lyric and Jack in? They've infiltrated Greyback's army for us, they might know something about the boy you were looking for –"

Ginny looked up, and Teddy's heart stopped for a brief second. "Hello. Mark's given you sort of the overview, but not the details. My name is Ginny Weasley."

"Not Weasley of the Order of the Phoenix?" Lyric interrupted in astonishment, staring at the woman. "We – I mean to say, Greyback and his army – didn't think any were left alive after Harry Potter got killed."

"We were rather deeply entrenched in our hiding spots, but there's still a few of us floating around," Ginny replied faintly. "Not many anymore, though. He-Who-Must-Not-Be-Named tracked down my family last month, killed every single one. I was helping another Order member with a search at the time, it's the only reason I survived."

"Who were you looking for?" Teddy asked carefully, though he suspected he knew the answer.

"Has Greyback ever mentioned having run across a Lupin in recent months?" Dean asked casually. "Apparently there's an Order member's child missing."

"Well, Teddy's hardly a child. He's legally an adult," Ginny sighed. "But he's been missing for a number of months now, since Christmas. Remus and Tonks are understandably worried about him, he's never left – their hiding place – since he was born. They've had people try and search for him, but he's a Metamorphmagus, so I suspect he's blended himself in pretty well. Probably changes appearance every time somebody gets close to finding him."

"Why did he leave, if it was so dangerous?" Teddy asked.

"We think… well, we think he got frustrated with always being hidden away. And Harry –" her voice broke on the name. "I think maybe he got tired of living in Harry's shadow."

"Has Greyback ever mentioned anything?" Mark asked quietly.

Both Lyric and Teddy shook their heads. "Never."

"He a werewolf?" Teddy asked casually. "Somebody in the pack is bound to run across him if he is. Only so many of us left now."

Ginny nodded slightly. "He is."

"I'll keep an eye open when I'm out," Teddy replied easily. "Should I be catching him or killing him?"

Ginny laughed for a second. "I think his mother's laid claim on killing him. Just catch him."

* * *

"So?" Lyric asked later that evening as she took him out into the cool night air. "It makes Meghan and Emily feel safer when I'm not in the house while the children sleep," she added in explanation. "My kind really isn't as dangerous as everybody makes us out to be, but what can I do?"

"It's all so… surreal," Teddy admitted truthfully. "I keep wanting to pinch myself, just to make sure I'm really awake."

Lyric laughed at his honest reply. "You really have been locked away for a long time, haven't you, Wolfe?" She smiled and caught his wrist. "So? You going to keep me company through the long, cold night, Jacob? Or do I have to curl up in a tree's hollow all by my lonesome?"

Teddy looked back at the disappearing horizon, then at the pale white hand wrapped around his wrist. "Well…"

* * *

"_Young Master Lupin, where do you think you're going?" came Sirius' teasing voice as he caught Teddy around the waist and hoisted him up in the air._

"_I'm going to go play with those kids," Teddy said simply with a smile, as he wrapped his arms around Sirius' neck. "I'm tired of playing with Fox."_

_He waited for the agreement, watching Sirius turn slightly to look at Daddy. "No, don't look at him," Teddy pouted._

_Daddy sighed as he took Teddy from Sirius. "Sorry, bud," he said quietly. "That's not an option. Come on, it's time for bed."_

* * *

"Jaaaaaaaacob…" Lyric said in a singsong voice.

"Hmm?" Teddy replied, looking up again. "Oh, yeah, sorry. Sure, I'll stay."

Lyric laughed, tucking her slim body against his side and winding her arms around his neck. "What were _you_ busy musing over?" she asked with a slight smile. After a moment, she distanced herself a bit. "I'm sorry. You're cute and all… but oh, my dear, you do carry quite a repulsive odor in those veins."

Teddy grinned at her slightly. "Really?"

Lyric wrinkled her nose. "It's true. Werewolf blood has this weird… um… well, no offense, Jacob, but your blood smells… dirty." She smiled back at him and settled against his side again. "It's a good thing I'm not a nose breather." Pausing when Teddy looked at her with a quizzical expression, she added, "It makes the cravings less severe when you breathe through your mouth. My kind can survive perfectly well on normal food. Blood really is like a drug that's been inbred into us – as long as you don't get into the habit of drinking it, the cravings are minimal."

"Now that's interesting," Teddy replied. "Pray tell what other dirty little secrets you might be hiding inside that lovely head."

Lyric smiled again and pulled him down to the wet ground. "Well… did you know that I am not allergic to sunlight?"

"Really?" he asked in surprise.

"It's true. We have an increased sensitivity to light, but it's something we can build a tolerance to." She grinned for a moment and then yawned, hitting Teddy's leg as he stared at her, dumbfounded. "Yes, I also sleep. In fact, I haven't slept in 24 hours, so I'm going to curl up and do so now, if you don't mind."

Finally, Teddy had to laugh and shake his head. "All right." He bit back the snicker as Lyric settled her head against his shoulder, then shuddered and distanced herself from him.


End file.
